Since Apple activated the new visual language Liquid Glass on the iPhone with iOS 26The system's design has undergone a significant transformation. More pronounced transparencies, reflections, and shadows that mimic glass have completely changed the interface's appearance, something many users have welcomed as a breath of fresh air after several rather iterative versions.
At the same time, this crystalline effect has generated a good debate between the user community and accessibility expertsIn Spain and the rest of Europe, many have pointed out that on some screens, the text becomes difficult to read and the glare strains the eyes. Apple has responded with a series of adjustments that soften, and even almost eliminate, much of the visual impact of Liquid Glass on the iPhone.
What exactly is Liquid Glass on the iPhone?
Liquid Glass is the name Apple gave to the new interface design that arrived with iOS 26In practice, this translates into a system full of translucent backgrounds, semi-transparent layers, glitter effects, and animations that aim to give the feeling of polished glass on buttons, folders, navigation bars, and the home screen.
This approach breaks with the flatter aesthetic of previous years and It is partly inspired by what Apple had been testing in visionOSThe system of its mixed reality glasses. Icons, widgets, and panels appear to float on blurred layers of the background, something very visible on the iPhone both on the lock screen and the home screen.
For many iPhone users, especially in Europe, the change has meant a feeling of modernization of the interfaceHowever, this same crystalline effect has caused some fonts and screen elements to lose contrast and become harder to read in bright light or high brightness, especially for people with low vision.
Usability specialists haven't been particularly kind: the well-known Nielsen Norman Group criticized Liquid Glass by prioritizing visual spectacle over clarity, focusing on reduced contrast and animations that can hinder reading or quick interaction.
The first complaints and initial adjustments in iOS 26
Following the release of iOS 26, Apple encountered a significant volume of negative reviews and commentsBoth in user forums and in specialized media, many agreed on the same thing: the design was eye-catching, yes, but legibility and ease of use on a daily basis had suffered.
One of the most frequently recurring problems had to do with Letters that were not entirely clear against overly transparent backgroundsIn some menus, the interface elements blended into the blurred background, forcing the user to strain their eyes more than necessary, which was especially annoying on small screen sizes.
Faced with this situation, the Californian company was forced to make a move. With the first revisions of the system, Apple began introducing options so that the user could recover some of the more "classic" look of the iPhonereducing the prominence of Liquid Glass without completely disabling it.
One of the key settings is found in the Settings app, under "Display & Brightness." From there, the user can activate the "Tinting" option, designed to Increase the opacity of the elements and make the backgrounds less transparentThe result is a somewhat more solid interface, with a more discreet glass effect and texts that are easier to read.
This change doesn't completely eliminate Liquid Glass, but it does allow The design is much more usable for those who prioritize comfort over visual appeal.To access these options, it is essential to have the latest version of iOS 26 available for the iPhone installed, as Apple has been refining the controls with each minor update.
Accessibility: How to minimize Liquid Glass
Beyond the "Tinting" setting, Apple has chosen to channel some control over Liquid Glass through the iPhone Accessibility sections, where the functions designed to improve the experience of people with vision problems are usually concentrated.
In Settings > Accessibility > "Display and text size", you can enable the "Reduce transparency" option. Doing so will affect the system's ability to display text in bold. It virtually eliminates most translucent backgrounds and significantly reduces the glassy effect on windows, menus, and panels. The iPhone thus regains an appearance closer to versions prior to iOS 26.
For those who struggle with screen brightness, Apple has gone a step further in the iOS 26.4 beta versions, introducing a new switch called "Reduce Brightness Effects," also in the Accessibility settings. This setting is designed to contain the flash animations that appear when you press buttons or interact with search bars, one of the reasons why some users lost sight of the characters while typing.
This option, which replaces a previous button that did practically nothing, It works in conjunction with the Tinting feature introduced in iOS 26.1Used together, both allow you to noticeably reduce the appearance of Liquid Glass, to the point of achieving a much more sober and less tiring interface, something especially noticeable with the screen brightness at maximum.
It is worth noting that all these measures have come after a wave of criticism focused on accessibility and visual comfortThese are not minor details: groups of people with low vision and experts in inclusive design have insisted that the iPhone cannot sacrifice clarity in favor of visual effects, something that Apple seems to be assuming, at least partially, with these new adjustments.
Advanced settings from the lock screen and home screen
In addition to the options hidden in system menus, the iPhone itself offers Quick controls to customize part of the Liquid Glass experience from the lock screen and the home screen.
With the iPhone unlocked, pressing and holding the lock screen brings up the personalization menu. Tapping on the clock displays several options: The first allows you to modify the font thickness, and the second adjusts the intensity of Liquid Glass. applied to that specific element. It's a quick way to make the watch more legible if the background is very bright.
During the development of iOS 26, Apple worked on a general slider that would adjust the intensity of Liquid Glass throughout the systemFolders, navigation bars, backgrounds, and more. The idea was for each user to calibrate the transparency level to their liking, but various technical problems prevented this feature from reaching the final version in time.
For now, The navigation bars and much of the interface still lack that unified control.The result is a somewhat fragmented experience: there are areas of the system where the user can tame Liquid Glass and others where the effect remains more aggressive than many would like.
iOS 26.4: More control over Liquid Glass flashes
The most significant new feature in this area is the aforementioned "Reduce brightness" switch in Settings > Accessibility > "Display & text size". Its purpose is reduce or eliminate the flashes that occur when touching interactive elementsThis had caused discomfort to users sensitive to flickering or who were simply distracted by so much animation.
By combining this new setting with the "Tint" mode (available since iOS 26.1), the iPhone virtually It can transform Liquid Glass into a much dimmer versionWith fewer reflections and less light play, the interface becomes quieter, and reading text or menus is more stable, especially in high-contrast scenes.
The technology community has indicated that these changes represent an almost complete correction of Liquid Glass's initial more aggressive approachFor many European users, who use the iPhone intensively during the workday, reducing this glare is a tangible improvement in their daily comfort.
Meanwhile, iOS 26.4 also arrives with other changes unrelated to design, such as the temporary removal of end-to-end encryption in RCS messagesPerformance improvements to the keyboard and the Measure app, or compatibility with new models like the iPhone 17e. However, in terms of the visual experience, the most important news remains the greater control over Liquid Glass.
How Liquid Glass fits into the future of iOS
Leaks and internal versions of iOS 27 suggest that Liquid Glass's days on the iPhone are not numbered.Despite rumors that arose following internal changes in Apple's design team, the leadership change, with Alan Dye's departure and Steve LeMay's continued tenure, doesn't appear likely to bring about a radical shift in direction.
According to available information, Apple views Liquid Glass as a long-term projectThe visual language, the result of years of work and closely related to the aesthetics of other systems like visionOS and macOS, would require the company to completely redesign much of the interface, something they are not considering in the short term.
What is expected is that iOS 27 will focus on polishing the less successful aspects of iOS 26, rather than introducing drastic design changesThe goal would be to improve stability, resolve bugs, and finish implementing Liquid Glass control tools that weren't ready in time for the first version, including that unfinished global slider.
Meanwhile, Apple is preparing other major new features for future versions of iOS, such as Siri's deep redesign under the codename "Field" and greater integration of third-party artificial intelligence models. All of this will coexist with Liquid Glass, which will continue to be the backdrop against which these functions operate.
Thus, the outlook for the coming years is that an iPhone where Liquid Glass remains, but in a more tamed and configurable formUsers who enjoy the crystal effect can keep it almost intact, while those who prioritize clarity and visual comfort will have enough tools to reduce it to their liking.
With the latest iOS 26 updates and what is known about iOS 27, the general feeling is that Apple is moving from forcing Liquid Glass on the iPhone to offering it as an adjustable style.The glass design remains the hallmark of this stage, but there are increasingly more controls for those who prefer a less glossy and more practical interface, something that many users in Spain and Europe will likely appreciate in their daily use of the device.